India-NASA Earth Observation Partnership: NISAR Satellite Launch

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite is an Indian satellite launched successfully on the date of July 29, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. This is also the first chapter of a collaboration flight between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The objective is important to the government in environmental monitoring, disaster management, and strategic use applications.

Context

• India launched the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite on 29 July 2025, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. 

• The satellites are part of the first-ever collaboration between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth observation missions.

Key Points

Characteristic of the NISAR Mission 

• Dual-frequency SAR: The NISAR is the first satellite that works with dual-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar, with the L-band (NASA) and S-band (ISRO) systems.

• Mass and Orbit: Has a total weight of 2,392 kg, and it is put into a 743-km sun-synchronous orbit with the help of GSLV-F16.

• Mission Life Five years, with unlimited scans of the globe at 12-day intervals.

• Antenna Technology: It has a 12-metre unfoldable mesh reflector antenna with SweepSAR mode which covers and has high resolution.

About NISAR Mission

• Launch Phase

  • Lighted off successfully on GSLV-F16 July 29 at 5 40 p.m.

• Deployment Phase

  • The start date is 10 days after the launch. Complex unfolding of radar boom and antenna ~9 m away from the spacecraft is included.

• Commissioning Phase

  • Includes the testing and calibration of the payloads as well as the systems.

• Science Phase

  • Operation of the Earth observing functions to commence and last during the life of the mission.

Goals and Uses

• Environmental Monitoring:

  • Look into deformation of the ground, movement of vegetation, ice sheets and movement of the soil moisture.

• Disaster Management:

  • Allows a quick response to the earthquakes, floods, landslides, and storms.

• Agriculture & Water:

  • Mapping of farmlands, crop production, mapping of water resources available on the surface.

• Strategic Use:

  • Detection of ships, coast surveillance, and classification of sea ice on seas to support maritime security and climate study.

Importance of the ISRO-NASA Agreement

• Technological Synergy:

  • ISRO offered services, spacecraft bus, S-band radar and a launch vehicle.

  • NASA brought in L-band radar, radar-reflector boom, GPS-receivers, high-rate data subsystem and payload integration through JPL.

• COVID-era Partnership:

  • In spite of these international sanctions, more than 65 ISRO engineers were operating on Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at NASA and 175 NASA engineers traveled to ISRO to do the integration and test.

• Future-mission Model:

  • Demonstrates that multilateral collaboration can work in climate science and space-based technologies.

Conclusion

The Indo-US collaboration in space and Earth science has reached a new milestone with the successful launch of the NISAR satellite. Relatively new priorities such as climate change, disaster resiliency, and resource surveillance policies will require real-time information that NISAR will offer to real-time policymaking and response. It establishes a precedent in joint, dual use technology regarding sustainable development and strategic foresight.